Threats

Major Threats

Prior to the advent of modern whaling in the late 19th century, fin whales were largely immune from human predation because they were too hard to catch. Fin whales were depleted worldwide by commercial whaling in the 20th century. Fin whales have been protected in the Southern Hemisphere and North Pacific since 1975, and catches ceased in the North Atlantic by 1990, except for small “aboriginal subsistence” catches off Greenland. Commercial catches resumed off Iceland in 2006, with nine fin whales being taken that year. A Japanese fleet resumed experimental catches of fin whales in the Antarctic in 2005, taking 10 whales each during 2005/06 and 2006/07, with plans to take 50 per year from the 2007/08 season (IWC 2006a). It seems unlikely that catching of fin whales will return to the high levels of previous years, not least due to the limited market demand for whale products.

Fin whales are one of the more commonly recorded species of large whale reported in vessel collisions (Laist et al. 2001). Five fatal collisions were recorded off the US east coast during 2000-04 (Cole et al. 2006). Collisions with vessels appear to be a significant, but not necessarily unsustainable, source of mortality for the Mediterranean population (Panigada et al. 2006, Reeves and Notarbartolo di Sciara 2006).

Fin whales are occasionally caught in fishing gear as a by-catch. Four deaths and serious injuries from this source were reported from the eastern US coast during 2000-04 (Cole et al. 2006); recent Japanese Progress Reports to the IWC (www.iwcoffice.org/sci_com/scprogress.htm) reported about 1 fin whale by-caught per year on average.